super columbine massacre RPG!
Posted by: andrew in Uncategorized, Games, General, Life, Cool thing of the day.:good intentions in an odd package?:.
yeah, you’re reading this right. this is not a joke. this is not a test. this is not something that i make up. this one has actually got me thinking…
this started with me reading an article in a magazine about this game. upon reading the title of the article, i was immediately shocked. the first words out of my mouth were, ‘you absolutely have to be kidding me.’ a video game based on the most horrific school shooting incident in the history of the US? i consider myself a pretty liberal guy. i’m also an avid video game player, but this one even this one ruffled me a bit.
all feelings, good or bad aside, i want to present some constructive analysis and criticism, because i think this is something that is actually very, very, very important as we push the limits of art and morality and what is deemed ’socially acceptable’ in media…especially interactive media. interactive media gives us the opportunity to do some extremely interesting and unique things, and so i write in hopes of perhaps being a part of repairing any possible damage that could come to pass because of this.
let me state this right now: in a situation where presentation is absolutely everything, the creator of this game, i am of the opinion that mr. danny ledonne has failed in every way possible. end of story. this is one of those cases where if danny had perhaps consulted any number of marketing or PR friends…or even just a simple marketing book…i feel his game would have met far less resistance than it has, and been able to work more towards the ‘positive’ impact that he claims he would like to make with this. being ‘a young guy’ is no excuse; he’s obviously smart.
i am of the also of the opinion that, despite his good intentions, he has actually damaged the vision of using video games as a tool for education on events such as this, and that is a real pity. score another for joe lieberman and tipper gore… *sigh*
.:the prologue:.
for those of you who have no background on this, i’m going to give it to you very quickly here. there’s an independent gaming festival called ‘slamdance‘. the idea (although on a FAR smaller scale) is essentially the same as sundance. it’s an opportunity for indie video game creators to come and share their visions and enter them for recognition. the festival actually asked danny ledonne to enter his work. later, as the game began to garner some recognition and attention, the festival pulled the entry, stating many reasons why…the main one being that they felt that there were many possible legal problems that could arise should the entry be allowed to stand, legal problems of which they did not feel they have the resources available to fight. this set off a huge explosion in the indie gaming community, and 7 of the 13 other entrants actually pulled their entries in protest. you can read a good report on this here.
the problem here isn’t that danny ledonne’s idea isn’t a good one. on the contrary, i actually think it’s a great idea. from an artistic and a social acceptance point of view, if we do not have people like this out there willing to take a chance, willing to broach a subject that is questionable and uncommonly (and, in this case, NEVER) broached, then we cannot progress and evolve. i can respect a person who wants to help society expand those boundaries. i can also respect his vision for challenging what a video game is/can be/should be. afterall, as i said, with interactive media, we have many unique opportunities that we’ve never had in the past. this is a medium that is entirely different from film, television or print. it’s a medium that has the potential not to just convey vision, but to convey an experience…and that is powerful. but, as the old saying goes, ‘with great power comes great responsibility…’
danny, if you might perhaps stumble upon this, i hope you read this very carefully: with a subject as sensitive and as powerful as this, you must be responsible for how you present everything as a whole. you cannot expect to justify your good intentions after the fact and with just words. as an artist, as an intellect, as a fellow human being, and as someone claiming to want to change the perception of a very powerful medium, you must be cognizant of every statement - visual, textual, or otherwise - you make with a game such as this.
so, to be clear here, i don’t disagree with the idea. i disagree with the presentation.
.:the proof is in the presentation:.
let’s start with problem #1: the name of the game. ’super columbine massacre RPG!’ let me just ask the obvious: how the hell are you going to expect anyone to take your serious subject matter seriously when you don’t have a more thoughtful name? that combination of words…’super….columbine…massacre’ is enough to make even me twitch a little. super……..super mario brothers? super smash bros.? super contra? super man? the word ’super’ when taken into the context of a video game situation conjures up many ‘pleasant’, fun visions, wouldn’t you say? and to have it right next to the word ‘columbine’ is about as harsh of a verbal transition as i can think of…magnified x10 by the following word ‘massacre’. there is nothing super at all about the massacre that happened at columbine. nor do i find there to be any excitement whatsoever in this, so what gives with the use of an exclamation point at the end? and to juxtapose all of this over the image of real pictures of the two kids that did all of this…and to tout this as a role playing experience (RPG)??!? i think the ‘artistic direction’ here is completely misguided. i believe that what he’s going for here is probably ‘ironic’…but i think it falls flat because your brain doesn’t even stop for a split second to immediately register offense. or at least mine didn’t…
problem #2 is the fact that i’m being told that this is an adult game, an adult title, something for mature audiences…and yet the style it is made in is probably about as childlike as it gets. as a matter of fact, the actions all throughout the game are portrayed as very flashy, light and ‘cute’. throw a pipebomb at a group of kids and see colorful fun starbursts go fly through the air! shoot them with a shotgun and see a little white pellet shoot out and disentigrate the target! hooray! it’s lots of fun! i get that it was made using a piece of software that allows you to create RPG games, and traditionally, RPG games tend to have a more childlike artistic style to begin with. i also understand that there are built in limitations with pre-made ‘creation’ software. however, just because you can…does not mean you should. this art style might’ve worked if some more thought was put into the overall presenation. as it is, i feel that it only lends to the overall frustrating offensive feel.
problem #3 is that the website for the game is horrible, and again, only lends to a feeling of kitsch and pomp. it’s a black background…with blood-red text! oooh, scary! crazy! it looks like it was designed by someone who has no clue what they are doing. it looks like there is no thought put into it…no heart. it feels as if it would be something you’d see in ‘the national enquirer’. it does no homage or respect to the idea recreating an experience. it doesn’t feel serious at all…
…which is really the heart of the issue…
…this whole thing feels like a sick joke. isn’t it ironic that danny ledonne wants to create a mature adult experience, wants to help change the perception of the video game as a child’s medium…and yet the statement is masked behind what would appear to be the trappings of an irreverant child’s distasteful prank?
that’s the real tragedy.
i look forward to the day when we can regularly use video games as a way to help educate people on things that they might not necessarily understand or get to experience otherwise. can you imagine how powerful it mght be to create a ‘game’ for a highschool history class that puts you in the role of a soldier in nazi germany? but instead of shooting everything to shreds, the idea of the game would be to immerse the person in the experience of making decisions that would determine the life or death of prisoners, and what consequences those decisions would have. right or wrong, the idea of enabling a person to actually experience something is far more powerful than presenting them with a linear vision. we cannot deny the potential good that could come of it.
in the case of danny ledonne and SCMRPG!, statements of good intent do not cover for bad execution or taste. and while i applaud and repsect his effort for attempting something different, the fact of the matter is that something like this should have been more carefully thought out and planned. perhaps he will use this as a learning experience himself and use this as an opportunity to make some changes now so that the gaming industry does not have to display yet another ugly scar.
